Bartow School Teacher Accused of Having Child Porn on Class Computer

A middle school teacher was arrested Thursday after Polk County Sheriff's detectives found at least 20 child pornography images on two School District computers that were assigned to him.

By CLIFFORD PARODY & MILES PARKSTHE LEDGER

BARTOW | A middle school teacher was arrested Thursday after Polk County Sheriff's detectives found at least 20 child pornography images on two School District computers that were assigned to him.Detectives began an investigation with the Polk County School District on May 28 when officials learned that a student who was using Lawrence Douglas Hughes' classroom computer for research saw an FBI warning pop up that said, "You have been viewing or distributing child pornography."Hughes, 59, is a research teacher at Union Academy Magnet School in Bartow and lives at 5324 Messina Ave. in Lakeland.The student told investigators that Hughes shut down the computer and did not say anything about the pop-up message.Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday that Hughes has been a school teacher in the Polk School District for the past 30 years. He also has been in charge of a mentoring program for 22 years, Judd said."We know this is a bad, bad school teacher," Judd said Thursday. "We also know that we have a duty and a responsibility to find out if there are any child victims." The same student who originally came forward told investigators that Hughes invited him to go on a canoeing trip earlier in the year. The student did not go, but said two other male students, both either 13 or 14 years old, went with Hughes. Later, the student saw pictures of the boys in bathing suits taken during the canoe trip. He also told investigators that Hughes wrestled with one of the boys, and that the two boys and Hughes held hands and prayed together while on the trip.With this information, deputies were able to obtain for forensic examination two computers assigned to Hughes..According to reports, detectives found photos of nude prepubescent and pubescent boys between the ages of 12 and 16 years posing, photos of children engaged in sexual acts with adults and photos of nude boys engaged in sexual acts with each other.At least 20 of the images have been determined to be child pornography, the Sheriff's Office said."We didn't see a whole lot of adult porn," Judd said. "The overwhelming majority of everything we identified was child porn."Detectives served a search warrant at Hughes' home on Thursday and will be examining the home computers, which include another school-owned computer, and electronic devices for child pornography. Judd said detectives stopped Hughes as he was pulling out of his driveway with his wife to leave on vacation. They interviewed him and he admitted to being addicted to pornography but said he did not purposely download the child pornography. His wife refused to be interviewed by the investigators, Judd said."This investigation is not ending today with the execution of this search warrant," Judd said. "It is only beginning."Hughes has four children, two boys and two girls, all of whom are now grown. According to his LinkedIn profile page, Hughes is also a former principal of the now-closed Evangel Christian School in Lakeland. He was arrested and charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography. Thursday night he was being booked into the Polk County Jail, where he will be held without bail until his first appearance hearing. Any students, former students or parents who have knowledge of any inappropriate contact that Lawrence Douglas Hughes may have had with children is asked to contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office at 863-298-6200.